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        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
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        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
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      • Pinay Guerrilleras - Guide >
        • Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands: Pinays Answering the Call to Arms
        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
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        • The Legacy of the Asian Women Soldier
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        • History of World War II in the Pacific
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        • Double Tenth Incident
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        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
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      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
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        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
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      • Competing Empires in Burma - Guide >
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        • The Second Sino Japanese War
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        • The First Battle of Shanghai 1932
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      • Ishi Shiro - Guide >
        • History of Biological Weapons and The Young Ishii Shiro
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      • Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731 - Guide >
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      • Rice and Revolution - Guide >
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      • Clash of Empires - Guide >
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PINAYS ANSWERING THE CALL THE ARMS

Underground Resistance during the Japanese Occupation

The Japanese occupation of the Philippines lasted for over two years. While the Allies reconvened and fought their way across the Pacific, the Philippine peoples began a ferocious underground resistance movement. Japanese brutality, combined with a lack of food and medical supplies, meant that the underground resistance required all available hands and voices to lend themselves to the cause of liberating the Philippines. Guerilla fighters ambushed Japanese patrols, sabotaged weapon production efforts in local factories, and secretly gave information to U.S. forces via radio and off-the-coast meetings. The resistance movement prevented the Imperial Japanese Army from establishing total control over the islands by disrupting their lines of communication, pushing back their forces into more open and vulnerable terrain, and pilfering their warehouses of ammunition and supplies.

Women, who were especially vulnerable to the Japanese occupiers, risked their safety to support the resistance. Local women were kidnapped and turned into sex laborers, forced to serve the imperial army as “comfort women.” Filipina women faced the combined threats of rape, kidnap, torture, and murder. And yet, Pinay guerrilleras forged ahead despite these insurmountable odds.


The Filipina Led Medical Unit of Bataan

Filipina nurses from left to right: Nurse Bruna Calvan, Guedelia Pablan, and Nurse Carmen Lanot.
Source: https://filipiknow.net/filipina-heroes-of-wwii/
Filipina nurses, Bruna R. Calvan, and Carmen Lanot, and Pinay doctor, Guedelia M. Pablan. These Bataan medical professionals saw firsthand the grim and cruel treatment of both American and Filipino soldiers during the Death March. The three continued to stay in Bataan, even after the Japanese defeated MacArthur and secured the Philippines, in order to continue to heal and protect wounded civilians and soldiers in hiding. They did this despite the ongoing threat of Japanese military violence. After their hospital was burned down by Japanese troops, they moved to a convent to continue their work. That convent was also destroyed, causing the Filipina led medical crew to make their own makeshift health center by nearby fishing ponds, where they continued to aide in the recovery of malaria afflicted guerrilla troops by forging paperwork for more orders of quinine, which they sent to afflicted soldiers in the mountain camps via canoe across Manila Bay.


Celia Mariano Pomeroy

Picture
Prison photograph from Armed Forces of the Philippines, Handbook on the Communist Party of the Philippines, 1961. Source: https://filipiknow.net/filipina-heroes-of-wwii/
Celia Mariano Pomeroy was a guerrillera resistance fighter during the Pacific War, whose liaison and courier work was central to the resistance. Among her other self-assigned guerrillera duties, Pomeroy inspired and instructed local villagers and guerrillas, showing them how to organize and network while simultaneously rallying villages with rhetoric emphasizing liberation and democracy. She later became the editor of a resistance newspaper, Katubusan ng Bayan, or Redemption of the Nation. She also was made the educational secretary of the central Luzon Bureau. Pomeroy would come into frequent contact with the Japanese as she traveled between villages. She survived numerous ambushes and attacks while under close Japanese surveillance and was deemed a priority target by Japanese soldiers tasked with ferreting out Filipino guerrillas. With her close relations and networking with local villagers, Pomeroy was able to remain safe and concealed on her missions from the IJA (Imperial Japanese Army).

Book cover of Pinay Guerrilleras
BUY THE BOOK

Pinay Guerrilleras: The Unsung Heroics of Filipina Resistance Fighters During the Pacific War
December 8th, 1941 marked the start of the full-scale invasion of the Philippines. With the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula and the fortified island Corregidor in the Spring of 1942, all hope seemed lost. But, almost overnight, the Philippine underground resistance began to take shape. Units made up of guerrilla volunteers from all walks of life participated in the liberation of the Philippines. The women guerrillas of the resistance, or guerrilleras, are one such group who have received less attention in Pacific Theater histories. The names and faces of those Filipina guerrilla soldiers, who led their own units, conducted espionage, nursed the wounded, led raids, or raised armies, have nearly been forgotten. The rigid gender barriers guerrilleras faced both on and off the field of duty resulted in their stories being silenced or relegated to less commanding roles in the aftermath of the war. This book attempts to bring these stories to light so that the legacy of these unsung Filipina resistance fighters lives on.  ​

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  • Home
    • About >
      • FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions
    • Support Us >
      • Projects you can support! >
        • Distributing Books
        • Presenting at 112th Annual Meeting of Pacific Coast Branch
        • Summer Research Relocation Fund
    • Contact
  • Stories
    • Videos >
      • Black Hearts (2021)
    • Blog
    • Podcast: Forgotten History
  • Internship
    • Summer 2023 Internship
    • Fall 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2021 Internship
    • Fall 2020- Spring 2021 Internship
    • Summer 2020 Internship
    • Fall 2019 Internship
    • Summer 2019 Internship >
      • Public History Night
    • School Year 2018-2019 Internship
    • Summer 2018 Internship >
      • 2018 Summer Showcase + Fundraiser
    • Fall 2017 Internship
    • Summer 2017 Internship >
      • 2017 Summer Showcase & Fundraiser
  • Books
  • Archives
  • Resource Page
    • Supplementary Research Guides >
      • Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Background of Biochemical Warfare Development
        • Imperial Japan's Chemical Warfare Development Program
        • Map of Unit 731
        • Personnel of Unit 731
        • Duties of Unit 731
        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
        • Cover Ups After the War
        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
        • The Aetas
        • Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Nationalist Guerrilla Units
        • The Female Faces of the Philippine Guerrillas
      • Rising Sun Flag - Guide >
        • History of the Rising Sun Flag
        • Atrocities Committed Under the Flag
        • Rising Sun Flag in Pop Culture
      • Pinay Guerrilleras - Guide >
        • Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands: Pinays Answering the Call to Arms
        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
        • Amazons of the Pacific Theater
        • Filipina American Veterans: Recovering the Extraordinary Feats of the Ordinary Pinays
        • The Legacy of the Asian Women Soldier
      • Fall of Singapore - Guide >
        • Singapore World War II Timeline
        • History of World War II in the Pacific
        • History of Singapore
        • Japan's Conquest in Asia
        • Japan's Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
        • Sook Ching Massacre
        • Double Tenth Incident
        • Social Changes and Challenges in Singapore
        • Voices from Syonan
        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
        • Hong Kong before WW2
        • Buildup to World War 2
        • The Battle of Hong Kong
        • Life during 3 Years and 8 Months
        • East River Column Guerrilla Fighters
        • Prisoners of War Camps
        • End of Japanese Occupation
        • War Crimes Trials
      • Siamese Sovereignty - Guide >
        • The Land of Smiles
        • The Thai-Japanese Relationship
        • Phibun’s Domestic and International Policies
        • The Free Thai Resistance Movement
        • Post WW2 Aftermath of Thailand
      • The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Guide >
        • Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime
        • The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2
        • The Employment of the Bacteriological Weapon in the War
        • Planning of Japan invasion to USSR
      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
        • Vivisection at the Unit 731
        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
        • The End of the War
      • Prince Konoe Memoir - Guide >
        • Who is Prince Konoe?
        • Preparation to Tripartite Pact
        • Emperor Hirohito and Prince Konoe
        • The End of Prince Konoe
      • Competing Empires in Burma - Guide >
        • What was the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • When did the China-Burma-India Theater Happen?
        • Who Fought in the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • The Second Sino Japanese War
        • Japan in the South
        • Operation U-Go
      • Battle of Shanghai - Guide >
        • The Battle of Shanghai. Background
        • Shanghai Before War
        • The First Battle of Shanghai 1932
        • Battle of Shanghai 1937
        • Aftermath of Battle for Shanghai
      • Ishi Shiro - Guide >
        • History of Biological Weapons and The Young Ishii Shiro
        • Establishment in Manchuria
        • Pingfang District - Harbin
        • Failures and Corruption
        • Post War
      • Taiwan The Israel of the East - Guide >
        • Background of Formosa
        • Industrialization of Japan
        • China During WWII
        • Taiwan under Kuomintang
        • New Taiwanese National Identity
      • Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Introduction of Wang Xuan
        • Colonel Memorandum
        • The Beginning of Biological Warfare
        • The Bacteriological Warfare on China
        • Victims in Zhejiang’s Testimonies
        • After the War
      • Rice and Revolution - Guide >
        • The French Colonial Period
        • Anti-Colonial Resistance
        • The Rise of the Communist Movement
        • Imperial Japan’s Entry into Indochina
        • The Portents of Famine
        • The Famine (1944-45)
        • Legacy of the 1944-45 Vietnam Famine
      • Clash of Empires - Guide >
        • Japan’s Imperialist Origins
        • Japan’s Competition against the West: Nanshin-ron and Hokushin-ron
        • Japanese Imperialism Through the Lens of French Indochina
        • The U.S.-Japan Relations and the Pearl Harbor Attack
    • Lesson Plans >
      • Reparations
      • Ethics in Science
      • Writing the Narrative of a Pinay Fighter
      • Privilege Journal
      • Environmental Injustices
      • Female Guerrillas
      • Hunter's ROTC
      • Scientific Advancements
      • Seeking Justice: A Humanities Lesson Plan
      • The Hukbalahap
      • Trading Immunity
      • Bataan Death March
      • Biochemical Warfare Development
Contribute